


and they were roommates

by wolfwithpanthereyes



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Female Friendship, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Friendship, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Roommates, Slice of Life, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:37:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24910156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfwithpanthereyes/pseuds/wolfwithpanthereyes
Summary: Len stares down at the keycard in her hand, weighs up the potential negatives of asking someone she’s just met to stay with her. For all Len knows, Jim hides the soul of a wannabee serial killer behind her baby blue eyes.Len sighs.She turns around, key held in her raised fist, and says, “Hey, kid, wanna stay with me tonight?”-snapshots of Leonore McCoy and Jim Kirk as roommates during their academy days
Relationships: James T. Kirk & Leonard "Bones" McCoy, James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	and they were roommates

“I may throw up on you” shouldn’t be a good start to a friendship by any means. But the woman sitting beside her - dirty blonde hair shoved into a rough ponytail, scabs across her nose and the bluest eyes Len has ever seen - simply grins in response, and offers her name like a badge of pride. 

“Jim Kirk.” 

“Leonore McCoy,” Len says, and holds up her hipflask as a peace offering. “Interested?” 

\--

Len had been drinking the night she filled out the application form for Starfleet. It was a decision Len’s sober self had considered but might not have gone through with, had it not been the last day she spent with Joanna before Jocelyn moved cross-country.

“She’ll video you,” Joyce had said shortly, as Jo-Jo pressed her nose against the glass of the car window and mouthed ‘I love you’. Len returned the phrase as many times as she could, puncturing it with blown kisses until the car was out of sight, when she promptly went inside and grabbed the closest bottle in her liquor cabinet. Three glasses later and she was a third of the way through her application. 

She’s grateful her drunk self also thought to file for accommodation.

A volunteer hands her the keycard to her new room along with the usual information booklets, and Len is fully prepared to walk away when she hears Jim Kirk ask “Any spare rooms? This was kinda last minute.” 

There’s a tapping of keys, and: “They’ve all been reserved for the year. There’s other shuttles arriving over the next week, if you can find accommodation until then we might have something spare-”

Len stares down at the keycard in her hand, weighs up the potential negatives of asking someone she’s just met to stay with her. For all Len knows, Jim hides the soul of a wannabee serial killer behind her baby blue eyes. 

Len sighs. 

She turns around, key held in her raised fist, and says, “Hey, kid, wanna stay with me tonight?” 

\--

“Hey, Bones?”

“Mmm?” Len turns. Jim is stretched out on her stomach across Len’s bed, tapping her pen irregularly against the pages of her textbook, and it’s a slight effort to keep her eyes fixed on Jim’s face rather than the glimpse of cleavage Jim’s position offers. She’s dressed casual today, in a low-necked tee and sweatpants. If Len was to wear the same thing, she’d look frumpy. Jim looks like she’s stepped straight off the cover of a magazine. 

So Len’s attracted to the girl. So what? She’s allowed to find her roommate attractive. 

“Reckon I’m gonna head out.” Jim sits up, not bothering to hide a yawn. “Want me to grab you anything?”

“Head out where?” Len says, fully aware she’s sounding like a concerned mother figure. 

Jim shrugs and strands of hair fall out of its default ponytail. “Dunno. Need to clear my head. So, anything you want?” 

“Milk’d be good.” 

“You got it.” She yawns again and clambers from the bed. Len turns away too quickly as Jim shimmies out of her sweats and reaches for her jeans, exposing pale freckled thighs in the process. They change in front of one another all the time, no big deal, but it’s easy to forget that little detail sometime. 

Len jumps as Jim’s lips touch her cheek in a rapid peck. “See ya later, Bones,” she adds with a grin, scooping her leather jacket from its default heap on the floor. 

Len swats her away gently. “Yeah, yeah, go clear your head,” she says with her trademark grumble. Jim grins wider and gives a mocking salute as she sweeps out the door. 

Len waits until the lock clicks into place before she jumps up and checks her reflection, making sure she’s not blushing. 

\--

“Another?” 

“The same,” Len agrees as she shoves the empty glass at the bartender, her voice already hoarse from trying to speak at a volume that can be heard against the thudding music. 

“You got it.” The bartender winks at her and whisks the glass away. 

Len glances around the club as she waits. Jim is grinding against some human on the dancefloor, moving with the same gracelessness she dances around their apartment room with. Len snorts and her gaze sweeps further. An Orion girl catches her eye and winks, and Len winks back before she can help herself. 

"Here you go.” 

Len takes the new bourbon with glee. A moment later, there’s a green-skinned hand brushing her wrist, and the Orion girl slides onto the stool beside her. 

“Hey,” she says breezily. 

“Hey,” Len says back with a grin. 

“Sooooo…” The girl traces slow fingers across Len’s forearm, leaving no doubt to her intentions. “Come here alone?” 

“I wish.” Len jabs her thumb towards the dancefloor. “I came here with Miss Iowa over there.”

The girl glances over. “You mean Jim?” she says, sounding surprised. 

“Yeah,” Len replies, with equal surprise. “How do you-” 

“Bones!” Jim flings her arm around Len’s shoulders, nearly upsetting her bourbon in the process. Len would scold her, except Jim’s smile is so bright it startles her. “This is a good song! Come dance with me!” 

“Oh, you two are-?” The girl says, her eyes wide as she hastily withdraws the hand on Len’s wrist.

“No!” Len says abruptly, at the same time Jim says “Oh gosh, Gaila! Hi!” 

The girl - Gaila - stands up. “I think I hear my name being called, see you!” She says in a rush, despite Len hearing no such thing.

Len watches her go reluctantly as Jim hugs Len tighter and says, “So, about that dance-” 

“Godammit, Jim!” Len groans and throws back the rest of her bourbon before sliding off the stool. “Fine! Since I’m apparently not getting laid tonight, may as well do something worthwhile.” 

Jim stares at her, eyes wide, and then she grins so brightly it nearly outshines the flashing lights. “That’s the spirit, Bones!” 

Next thing Len knows, she’s been dragged to the midst of the dancefloor, surrounded by swaying bodies. Jim releases Len’s arm and snakes her hands around Len’s waist instead, tugging her close. Jim’s body is hot against her own, like a firecracker ready to burst. Common sense tells Len she should step away before she gets too attached to the sensation, but the eight fingers of bourbon in her system are shouting at common sense to shut up. 

Len moves her arms around Jim’s neck, hooking her hands together - Christ, her palms are clammy. She hopes Jim doesn’t notice. Jim sure doesn’t appear to. Jim’s laughing, hips gyrating against Len’s to the thud of the bass, eyes half-closed as she mouths along to words Len can’t understand. This is Jim in her element, brash and loud and beautiful, and Len is - 

And Len is not going to kiss Jim, no matter how tempted she is. 

Len dances with Jim for a few more songs and manages to leave with a girl whose dark eyes share no resemblance with Jim’s whatsoever. 

\--

“We’re not acknowledging my birthday,” Jim said firmly, when Len brought up the subject. "I’m gonna go to classes, come back here, study, maybe watch a holofilm or two. No birthday stuff whatsoever. Got it?”

Len wasn’t going to argue. Jim didn’t talk often about her upbringing, but Len had gathered the basics through drunken nights, one am confessions, and the whispered gossip of their classmates.

So Jim’s birthday arrives. The alarm goes off, Len grumbles her way out of bed and into her uniform, and Jim remains buried under the heap of blankets that has passed for her bed since their first day here. They’d gotten away with it so far this year, but next year they really need to apply for a dorm with two beds. It can’t be good for Jim’s back.

Len checks her hair in the mirror, smooths down the front of her uniform, and asks softly, “Hey, Jim? You gonna get up?” 

For a long while, Jim doesn’t respond. Len sighs and is just about to bend down and shake her awake when a small voice finally says, “Yeah, I’ll be right behind you. You go, kay?” 

“Okay,” Len says, despite every instinct in her body telling her otherwise. “See you, kiddo.” 

\--

Len doesn’t see Jim again until the academy is finished for the day. She hovers outside their door for a moment, debating whether or not to knock, before falling back on routine and sliding her key into the lock. 

“Oh, hey.” Jim is slumped on Len’s bed, a blanket curled around her shoulders. Her eyes are red, her hair uncombed, and she’s still wearing the vest and boxer shorts that passes for pyjamas. “’m watching old Terran films. Wanna join me?” 

Len resists the urge to gather Jim up in her arms instantly and says instead, “Okay. Give me a sec to get changed.” 

She moves to her dresser and pulls out her old sweatpants and the t-shirt Jim bought for Len’s birthday as a joke, the one with the skull and crossbones logo embellished across the front. 

“I told you that shirt would look good on you,” Jim says when Len’s finished dressing. There’s a smile on her lips, but it doesn’t quite meet her eyes. 

“I’m still never wearing it outside this room,” Len counters. She gives Jim a playful shove as she settles on the bed next to her. Jim responds by leaning back against her, and Len folds an arm around Jim’s shoulder, allowing the younger woman to snuggle against her. “So, what’re we watching?” 

Jim throws herself into an explanation of the film, in her true history nerd style. Len lets her ramble and keeps her close.

They watch the rest of the film, and then another. Len orders takeaway. 

They’re halfway through another film when Jim’s head starts to droop against Len’s shoulder, her breathing soft. She’s more relaxed than Len has seen her all day. 

Len turns off the film and Jim blinks alert. 

“Bedtime,” Len says in her best mother-knows-best voice. “You’re joining me on an early morning run tomorrow. No exceptions.” 

Jim groans, as Len knows she would. “Urgh. Do I have to?” 

Len nods, carefully detangling from the other woman. “Yes. Now get into bed.” 

Jim groans again, rubbing the heel of her hand against her eyes as she clambers off the bed. “Fine. And Bones-” 

Her hand catches Len’s, squeezes it.

Len sighs. 

“No need to thank me,” she grumbles as she slides under the covers of her own bed and tugs Jim down. “C’mon, get in.” 

Jim hesitates, but doesn’t relinquish her grip on Len’s hand. “I can sleep in my own bed, no big deal-” 

“You deserve a proper mattress for one night at least,” Len counters. Jim stares down at her, hovering, and then she gives in and crawls next to her. 

“Night, Bones,” she says, her voice as small it sounded this morning. “Thanks.” 

For once Jim's breathing is soft as she sleeps. Somehow her ankle hooks around Len's calves and the back of a hand grazes her stomach, shifting back and forth with each inhale and exhale Len takes. 

Len doesn't sleep much herself that night.


End file.
